This invention relates to a cushion for a dental rubber dam clamp and a method of securing such a clamp.
It is conventional to isolate areas of the mouth of a dental patient from the throat during dental work such as drilling. This keeps the patient from ingesting material drilled from the tooth, water, filling material and other materials and chemicals utilized during dental treatment.
It is common to utilize resilient sheets, known as rubber dental dams, although they usually comprise synthetic materials rather than rubber. Openings are punched in the dam to receive those teeth which project through the openings. One or more spring metal dam clamps are used to engage selected teeth to hold the dam in place. These clamps are conventionally of spring metal, having two flat, thin jaw members with concave inside edges for engaging a tooth. A U-shaped spring bow portion interconnects the jaw portions and biases them towards each other. While these clamps are effective in holding the dam in position to protect the patient's gums, and prevent waste material and water from passing down the patient's throat, they can be uncomfortable. The hard metal of the jaws of the clamps can contact the patient's gums and the tooth root surface, causing pain. Sometimes a clamp slips during dental treatment, causing the patient to jump with the resulting pain. In addition, these clamps cannot be used on crowned teeth because they can damage the crowns. Consequently, there is a need to improve the comfort of dental rubber dam clamps, and a need to make them suitable for use on dental crowns.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,010,146 to Ivory discloses a pad holder for dental purposes. This device consists of means for holding an absorbent pad on a gum during a dental operation so as to absorb saliva at or about the tooth. The pad appears to be interposed between the tooth/gum area and jaws of the clamp, thus possibly protecting the tooth from the jaws to some extent. In some of the figures of the patent, however, the metal of the clamp appears to contact the teeth. The patent describes the pads fitted over the teeth and held firmly on the gum. Because the patent utilizes an absorbent pad, which is necessarily porous, it does not provide effective sealing. Moreover, the pads do not grip the clamp in such a manner as to be likely to prevent slipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 562,490 to Richter discloses a rubber dam clamp consisting of a flexible wire arrangement on metallic dental clamps employed to hold or retain absorbent wadding rolls. The metal of the clamp touches the tooth.
U.S. Pat. No. 722,033 to McCarter discloses a dental clamp in which the jaws of the clamp grip firmly the opposite sides of the tooth to be treated. It would appear that this device has the metal of the clamp in direct contact with the tooth.